


The Sphinx

by WildwoodQueen



Series: Mythology Poems [4]
Category: Ancient Greek Religion & Lore, Oedipus Cycle - Sophocles
Genre: Fate, Free Verse, Gen, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Mythology - Freeform, Poetry, Poor Oedipus, Riddles, Sphinxes, The Sphinx is Spiteful
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-04
Updated: 2020-02-04
Packaged: 2021-02-27 18:40:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 271
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22550401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WildwoodQueen/pseuds/WildwoodQueen
Summary: The Sphinx asks a riddle to every traveller who passes by. Now, she is faced with Oedipus, who she knows will be the cause of her destruction. This fact doesn't overly distress her, because, after all, you can't fight fate.
Series: Mythology Poems [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1622422
Kudos: 5





	The Sphinx

**Author's Note:**

> Slight content warning for suicide not graphically described

_What walks on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon, and three legs in the evening?_  
— Sophocles, Oedipus Rex 

I am the enigma that  
Guards the gates  
I am cold intellect and  
Burning rage  
Whispering and roaring  
The riddle that I offer.

Beware traveller,  
Mortals are weak  
And I am hungry.  
You slake the thirst of my  
Crystalline mind  
You with your  
Befores and Afters  
Your Whys and Wherefores  
Little minds filled with fear  
Death hanging on every tree.  


In my diamond eyes, I hold my  
Question  
Eternally asked and answered  
Come now,  
You must know it.  
The answer that winks and flitters  
At the end of the tunnel  
Why don’t you come closer?

Here he comes:  
Clever Oedipus,  
Blessed and cursed  
With your eyes of clear glass  
You who know the ways of mortality  
That he who is born,  
Raises himself up  
Then sickens and dies  
Naturally, perhaps  
But  
For you,  
Only you  
There is blackness,  
A sky torn.  
A snake in the grass.

So let me grant you your wish  
I will rid your beloved city  
Of its monster  
Open the gates wide  
And let the conquering hero in!

Foolish Oedipus  
Whose life will be long and dark and cold  
You who walked on four legs, then two  
Then three  
Soon  
Comes the unending night.

I am almost sorry  
That I did not eat you  
But you see,  
I was not made to be merciful.

So,  
Let the solemn cliff’s edge be my witness  
Let the leap and the fall devour me  
And drink up my rapturous laughter.

We are hurtling, both of us, towards our fates.


End file.
